According to Anthony Joshua’s Twitter poll, he will face American champ Deontay Wilder in April. With 22 hours remaining on the online poll to choose his next opponents, Wilder has 53%, Tyson Fury has 42% and Dillian Whyte has just 5% of fans’ votes.
AJ stated after his win that he would ask his fans who they wanted him to fight next at Wembley, potentially in April last year. His two main opponents, Wilder and Fury, face each other in Las Vegas in December, with many believing that the winner of that bout will face AJ at Wembley.
However, Dillian Whyte’s name has also been thrown about with interest in a rematch building. AJ demolished Whyte at the O2 Arena last time they met, but since then Whyte has beaten Lucas Browne and Joseph Park and got his record up to 24-1. Most pundits think it would be a much closer fight this time around and that Whyte has improved massively over the past three years.
The social media drama continued this week as Tyson Fury blocked AJ on Twitter after he had knocked out Povetkin in the seventh round. However, if Fury can beat Wilder, the public will want to see the Gypsy King face off against AJ in one of the biggest heavyweight fights in recent years.
Promoter Eddie Hearn had been trying to set up a fight with Deontay Wilder this year but that deal never materialised so up stepped Povetkin in his place. But it was not ideal preparation for the big Brit in the build-up this bout.
Hearn said: 'Ever since the Wilder fight fell through, there's always been the pressure of "What happens if you go and lose to Povetkin?"
'So we agreed to the fight. He wanted to fight Wilder, but he had to deal with his mandatory, so all eyes on that. He's taken himself away from all the circus but, even in his mind, he was like "What happens if I lose? We've booked April, we are talking about Wilder and I will look like a right plonker if we lose."
'And it's been a horrific camp. Injuries, he's had the flu all week and even this week I was thinking "This is just not meant to be".
But AJ came through with flying colours and it looks like he might now face Deontay Wilder in 2019. What a fight that promises to be.
